Automatic fuse setter for machine guns



R. V. MORSE.

AUTOMATIC FUSE SETTER FOR MACHINE GUNS APPLICATION FILED MAY 2, 1921-1A9J95y Patented Mar-14, 1922.

INVENTOR mm AWN? S Aw g Q mm 3 R 4 Y J $P$QW Q s a 7m x a .5 W mm a hm.H .ilagsl Elm & mm. m kW 7 I v h v W wm To all whom it may concern:

'uurra PATENT orr ce.

nonna'r v. monsn, or rrnaca, new ,YORK.

AUTOMATIC FUSE SETTER FOR MAGHINE GUNS.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

Application filed may 2, 1921. Serial No. 466,297.

Be it known that 1, ROBERT V. MORSE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins and State of New York,have invented a new and useful Automatic Fuse Setter for Mach ne Guns,of which the following, taken with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification. This invention relates to anti-aircraft ordnance, and inparticular to machine guns capable of firing shells having adjustablenism. The

time fuses, such as the one pounder type for example. In my copendinapplication direct fire control system, er. No. 456,119, filed March 28,1921, there is described a system of fire control involving a mechanismwhich automatically set the fuses of the shells as they were being fedinto the machine gun,-the. amount of the setting being under the controlof the gunner, who could thus vary the range of the bursting point aspromptly tion. The preferred form of mechanism selected for descriptionin that application was of the multiple unit type, and the inventionherein described relates to .a modification consisting of a single unittype of mechabasic features of invention common to both types arecovered in the 'copending application referred to, and the featuresherein described are merely those relating to the single unit type,which in'general requires a much greater rapidity of action in itsmechanical elements, but employs fewer parts and so is cheaper toconstruct.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1' 1s a longitudinal view partly ncross-section showing the portions of the machine gun mechanismrelatingto the fuse setting. Fig. 2 is an end view of the oscillatinghead mechanism. v,

Referringnow to Fig. 1, a tubular clutch element 10 of the cone-facedtype is mounted so that it can slide longitudinally but not turn in thebracket 11, which is integral with the gun case or other suitable fixedpart of the gun mechanism. The clutch element 10 is arranged so thatwhen moved to the right as shown in Fig. 1 it can grasp the body of theshell or cartridge 12 and hold it from rotation. Within the clutchelement 10, and rotatable relative thereto, is a clutch element 13adapted to grasp the fuse ring 14 of the shell 12 when forced into engaement therewith.- This clutch element 1 is and easily as he could thedireca ing in the form of a long sleeve having flanges" 15 and 16thereon, and terminating at the other end in a collar 17 having a notch19 therein similar to a jaw clutch, this collar 17 also having anexternal lug 20, which is arranged so that it can strike against anadjustable stop 21. A shaft 22 extends longitudinally through the clutchelement or sleeve 13, and is keyed thereto by means of a feather keyconnection so that the sleeve 13' can slide longitudinally relative tothe shaft 22, while the rotary motion of the shaft 22 is positivelytransmitted to the sleeve 13. A'spring 23 is locatedbetween the clutch10 and the flange 15, and another whichis shown projecting into thenotch 19.

This external sleeve or tube 26 is arranged to slide freely on thesleeve13, and the sleeve 13 can also turn freely within the external sleeve26, which is held from rotation by a stud (not shown) connecting it tothe reciprocating arm 30, and also by a ridge or key 31 which lies in asuitable notch in the fork of the arm 30. The rounded heads of the forkof the reciprocating arm 30 lie between the flanges 25 and 27, so thatthe external sleeve 26 is reciprocated by the motion ofthe arm 30.

The arm 30 is pivoted at 32 to a fixed portion of the gun or frame, andis oscillated by the action of a reciprocating head 33 which is slidablymounted on the reci rocatrod 34. The reciprocating head 33 is driven bythe rod 34 through the action of two intermediate springs 35 and 36,which bear against the head 33 and against fixed collars 37 and 38 whichare securedto the rod 34. These springs 35 and 36 may be omitted but aredesirable to give a cushioning in the driving force, so asto prevent mdue shock and strain. A similar pair of springs 39 and 40 engage fixedcollars 41 and 42 secured to the reciprocating rod 34 trans- 'mit thedriving force to movable collars 43 so that it can oscillate through amoderateangle.

As shown in Fig. 1 and also in Fig. 2,

the other arm 45 of the be'll'crank 45 carries a air of studs or'pins47and 47', be-

tween which lies a pin 48 extending from a collar 49 rotatably mountedon an extension of the shaft 22. A set of planetary gears 50 are mountedon shafts secured to this collar 49, these gears 50 rolling on suitablefixed internal gear teeth in the casing 51 and driving a central pinion52 on the shaft 22, thus rotating the shaft 22 when the pin 48 isoscillated. This planetary gearing is so proportioned that a motion ofthe pin 48 and collar 49 through a portion of a revolution,say forexample,is suflicient to rotate the shaft 22 through a completerevolution,-since the motion is considerably multiplied by thetransmission, as will be obvious to those familiar with the principlesof planetary gearing. The torque of the shaft 22 is transmitted by afeather key to the sleeve 13 and collar 17 as has been described,therotation of the collar 1? being limited by the lug 2O striking theadjustable'stop 21. This stop 21 is attached to a worm gear 54 as shownin cross-section in Fig. 1 and can be rotated to any desired position bythe worm 55 operated by the control wheel 56 through suitable gearing.The control wheel 56 also operates at the same time, through the gearing57, an adjustable stop screw 58. A second adjustable stop 59 is arrangedso that it can be independently adjusted by the handwheel 60..

An extension 61 on the bell 'crank 45 is arranged to play between thestop 58 and stop 59, and serves to absorbsome of the momentum of theapparatus when in action, though this feature is not strictly necessaryand-may be omitted in some constructions if desired.

The apparatus may be arranged to operate with either a gas operated orrecoil operated type of machine gun, as all that is necessary is to linkit to the operating mechanism so a reciprocating motion is applied tothe rod 34, as by an oscillating linkage 62 driven by a reciprocatingelement of the machine gun 63 for example. The linkage 62 is preferablyconnected so that the rod 34 will be moved to the left on the recoil ofthe gun, and moved to the right on the counter-recoil; the connectionmay be modified of course according to the type of gun used, and it isnot strictly necessary that the fuse 1setting action occurs on thecounterreco1 The operation of the mechanism is as operations. First, theclutch 10 meets the body of the shell or cartridge 12 and grips it asshown in Fig. 1, thus holding it from rotation. Further motion of theapplied forces compresses the intermediate spring 23 which permits theclutch 13 to advance and grip the fuse ring 14 of the shell 12, as shownin Fig. 1. After the fuse ring has thus been gripped by the clutch 13,further motion of the applied forces merely compresses the spring 24 andincreases the pressure on the clutches 10 and 13, until the rotatingmotion of setting begins, as will now be described.

The movement of the reciprocating rod 34 to the right has alsocompressed the spring 39 so as to force the collar 43 to the rightagainst the bell crank 45, tending to swing it counter-clockwise aroundthe pivot 46, and this force is transmitted through the pins 47 and 48,collar 49, planetary gearing 50 and pinion 52 to the shaft 22, whichthus tends to turn the clutch sleeve 13 and collar 17. However, thetooth 28 in the notch 19 prevents the collar 17 and clutch 13 fromturning, and hence prevents the shaft 22, collar 49 and bell crank 45from moving or yielding to the force applied by the spring 39. As thearm 30 swings more and more to the right forcing the sleeve 26 againstthe spring 24, the tooth 28 is withdrawn from the notch 19, whereuponstop 21. The amount of the fuse setting thus v given is determined bythe location of the adjustable stop 21 as controlled by the worm 55 andcontrol wheel 56. This completes the operation of setting as performedby a' motion to the right.

The motion of the reciprocating rod 34 to the left compresses the spring36 and forces the reciprocating head 33 and arm 30 toward the left,carrying the sleeves 2 6 and 13 and clutch 1O bodily with it. Thus theclutch 13 is first withdrawn. from engagement with the fuse ring 14, andthen the clutch 10 is withdrawn from the shell -12. At the same time thetooth 28 is pressing against the collar 17, though not at first lying inthe notch 19. However, the motion of the rod 34 to the left has alsocompressed the spring 40 and forcedthe bell crank 45 to theleft,rotating it in a clockwise direction; and. this, through the actionof the gearing 50 turns the shaft .22 backward so as to turn the collar17 back to its former position. As the collar 17 reaches its formerosition the tooth 28 falls into the notch 19.-

he apparatus is then back to the beginning of the cycle described, andready for the next shell. In general it will be seen that mosses themechanism performs the operations of se1zing the shell and settingits'fuse by a notion in one direction, and on the return notion releasesthe shell and prepares for ;he next cycle by returning to its initial;

)osition. v

It will be understood that the particular Form of mechanism shown ismerely by way f example, and that various modifications ind adaptationsmaybe made in difi'erent deigns as will be evident to those skilled inhe art, without departing from the essential eatures of the invention asdefined by the ollowing claims.

I claim- I y 1. In an automatic fuse setter for mahine guns, thecombinationofa clutch eleient adapted to grip a fuse ring, means forpplying a torque to said clutch element, leans for restraining saidelement from otating in response to said torqueuntil fter said clutchelement has become firmly ngaged with the fuse ring, and control leansfor limiting the amount of rotation of Lid clutch element after it isreleased by Lid restraining means, wherebythe amount E tlhe setting ofthe fuse ring may be con- 01 ed. a

2. In an automatic fuse setter for machine ms, the combination of aclutch adapted i hold a shell from rotation, a clutch eleent adapted togrip the fuse ringv of the tell, a spring between the first mentionedutch and said clutch element, means for rrcing said clutch and clutchelement .into lgagement, a spring between said forcing eans and the cl'tch element, means for a'pying a torque to said clutch element, eans forlocking said clutch element yainst said torque, means for releasin thecking means when the last mentioned spring is compressed, and adjustablemeans for limiting the amount of rotation of the clutch element wherebythe amount of the fuse setting is controlled.

3. In an automatic fuse setter formachine guns, the combination of arotatable element adapted to set the fuse ring of a shell, means vforstoring the energy required to rotate said element, means for lockingsaid element from rotation, means for releasing the lock,-and adjustablemeans whereby the amount of rotation of said element is controlled. i

4. In an automatic fuse setter for machine guns, the combination of aclutch element,

a drive shaft for rotatin said element, gear-' ing for rotating said saft, and a spring arranged to store the power required to turn saidshaft.

5. In an automatic fuse setter for machine guns, the combination of aclutch element, a drive shaft for rotating said element, gearing forrotating said shaft, mechanical means arranged to operate said gearing,a .65 reciprocating element, and a yielding sprin drive arranged betweensaid mechanica means and said reciprocating element.

6. In an automatic fuse setter for machine guns, the combination of aclutch element, a drive shaft for rotating said element, a multiplyinggearing, a reciprocating rod, mechanical means connecting the rod to thegearing, an oscillating arm driven by the rod and arranged toreciprocate the clutch element, means for controlling the amount ofrotation of the clutch element, and ielding means arranged to cushionthe action of the applied forces.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th da of A I'll.1921.

no ERT iroRsE.

